His deafness was a slow deterioration, rather than a sudden loss of hearing, so he could always imagine in his mind what his compositions would sound like. If Beethoven couldn't hear, how did he write music?īeethoven had heard and played music for the first three decades of his life, so he knew how instruments and voices sounded and how they worked together. He tried a range of hearing aids, such as special hearing trumpets, like this one: This didn't cure the deafness-it only served to keep him away from his piano for two weeks.Īfter 1822, he gave up seeking treatment for his hearing. One bizarre remedy was strapping wet bark to his upper arms until it dried out and produced blisters. “I am feeling stronger and better, except that my ears sing and buzz constantly, day and night.” Taking a lukewarm bath of Danube water seemed to help Beethoven’s stomach ailments, but his deafness became worse. What treatment did Beethoven seek for his deafness? Its famous opening motif is often referred to as ‘fate knocking at the door’ the cruel hearing loss that he feared would afflict him for the rest of his life.

Read more: 10 works of Beethoven that actually changed the world “The cause of this must be the condition of my belly which as you know has always been wretched and has been getting worse,” he wrote, “since I am always troubled with diarrhoea, which causes extraordinary weakness.”Īn autopsy carried out after he died found he had a distended inner ear, which developed lesions over time. At other times he blamed it on gastrointestinal problems. Having fallen over, he said, he got up to find himself deaf. Theories range from syphilis to lead poisoning, typhus, or possibly even his habit of plunging his head into cold water to keep himself awake.Īt one point he claimed he had suffered a fit of rage in 1798 when someone interrupted him at work. The exact cause of his hearing loss is unknown. But by the age of 44, he was almost totally deaf and unable to hear voices or so many of the sounds of his beloved countryside. It’s said that Beethoven was never the same again after this incident, because he had confronted his deafness for the first time.īeethoven could apparently still hear some speech and music until 1812. Beethoven would have seen from Ries's face that there was beautiful music playing, but he couldn't hear it. Once Beethoven was out for a country ramble with fellow composer Ferdinand Ries, and while walking they saw a shepherd playing a pipe. ‘If I belonged to any other profession it would be easier, but in my profession it is a frightful state.” “For two years I have avoided almost all social gatherings because it is impossible for me to say to people ‘I am deaf”,” he wrote. Read more: The 15 greatest symphonies of all time He feared his career would be ruined if anyone realised. And yet if anyone shouts I can’t bear it.”īeethoven tried to keep news of the problem secret from those closest to him. The sound I can hear it is true, but not the words. I can give you some idea of this peculiar deafness when I must tell you that in the theatre I have to get very close to the orchestra to understand the performers, and that from a distance I do not hear the high notes of the instruments and the singers’ voices… Sometimes too I hardly hear people who speak softly. “For the last three years my hearing has grown steadily weaker. In 1800, aged 30, he wrote from Vienna to a childhood friend - by then working as a doctor in Bonn - saying that he had been suffering for some time: How old was Beethoven when he started losing his hearing?Īround the age of 26, Beethoven began to hear that ringing and buzzing in his ears. Then, he started to notice a buzzing sound in his ears - and everything was about to change.

Deaf composer